Categories

Categories

Epicurean Encounters

Beef Wellington

Always wanted to make Beef Wellington, but was too lazy to make puff pastry dough from scratch. My wife doesn't like the typical store bought puff pastry. I happened to find very good quality puff pastry dough recently. It is called Durfour. With good quality puff pastry dough in hand, I decided to make Beef Wellington for Mother's Day.

I got some beef tenderloin and tied it up so it would keep its tubular shape while cooking. First I browned it, and then I put it in a zip lock bag and immersed it in a 125F water bath (sous vide) for 2 hours. After two hours I took it out, cut off the stringst and put it in the refrigerator over night.

I chopped up a ton of mushrooms and sweated it with some shallot and garlic in a frying pan until all the liquid evaporated. Then I mixed in some pate foie gras. I laid out some prosciutto slices on top of plastic wrap and put the cooled mushroom/foie gras mixture on top. Put the beef tenderloin on top and rolled with the plastic wrap. I tried to make it as tight as possible without the mushroom/foie gras mixture oozing out. Put it in the refrigerator to keep cool.

Rolled out the puff pastry dough on a floured counter top, unwrapped the beef tenderloin and covered with puff pastry dough. Added an egg wash to the outside of the pastry dough. Put it in a 325F convection oven for around 45 minutes. Checked the temperature of the meat with a thermometer and made sure the pastry crust was brown. Took it out, let it rest for 15 minutes and then slice and serve.

For a classic dish like this, I went with a classic wine, 1985 Chateau Margaux. It was a nice match, but I thought the wine was too earthy even for a dish featuring mushrooms. A good pairing, but not a perfect match. Might have gone with something with a little brighter fruit...something younger. Everyone loved it, especially my wife and my niece. So mission accomplished. Happy Mother's Day.